The European Education Connectivity Solution (EECS) project commenced on June 1 and was officially launched at the Annual European Campus Card Conference held in Stansted, London. The overall cost of this project is $2.1 million, which came from the European Union and other contributors.

The idea behind the student ID is to set up a framework where students can study at different universities across the continent without having to physically carry academic records, says Eugene McKenna, chief executive of campus services, Waterford Institute of Technology in Ireland. The ID will act as a key for students to access these records.

For example, if a student were going to study aboard for a year he would go to the registrar’s office and have his academic records uploaded to a secure server. The student would be authenticated with the ID and a fingerprint biometric. After arriving at the other university the student would again use the ID and biometric to be authenticated and this would enable his records to be downloaded to the other university.

In the trial phase, students from Waterford and the Technical University of Lodz in Poland, two members of the consortium, will become trial exchange students. The project will use NXP’s Mifare technology to start, but will review other options as well.